By MIKE WELLS
The Tampa Tribune

Video: Murder-Suicide

TAMPA - Police are investigating a murder-suicide today involving a 44-year-old man who investigators believe killed his 27-year-old girlfriend and then himself by hanging from a Rowlett Park tree.

A passerby called 911 after spotting Angel T. Jimenez dangling from a tree limb at about 8:30 a.m. near Rowlett Park Drive and 22nd Street.

Three hours later, police found the body of his girlfriend, Cuadalupe Cajiga, in his bedroom at 10118 N. 14th St. Investigators would only say that she died of trauma to her upper body.

Early in the investigation, police at the park spotted a Home Depot receipt for nylon rope nearby, and detectives found a microcassette in Jimenez’s pocket, Maj. George McNamara said.

Back at the police station, detectives worked to translate the tape and heard a male voice speaking in Spanish about harming a woman, McNamara said.

By this time, the major and a detective had arrived at the duplex apartment Jimenez shared with his stepdaughter, her boyfriend and three small children to notify his next of kin about the suicide.

The stepdaughter’s boyfriend answered the door with the children in his arms and told McNamara that no one had seen either Jimenez or his girlfriend since the couple had argued late yesterday afternoon or early evening.

Jimenez left, the boyfriend told police, saying he was going out for a walk and looked “despondent,” McNamara said.

The detectives who had been listening to the tape then radioed McNamara to pass along its message about a woman being in jeopardy, he said.

Upon finding Jimenez’s bedroom door locked, McNamara walked outside, stood on a discarded wooden coffee table next to a bedroom window and shattered the glass.

He pulled the curtain aside and saw the woman’s body lying on the bed. He then climbed inside.

Further details about her cause of death were not released, since the investigation is pending.

Jimenez was arrested Jan. 28 on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and stalking. The case stemmed from a Dec. 16 report. He pleaded not guilty April 17 and the case awaited trial.

That same month, another woman sought a protective order from a Hillsborough Circuit Court barring Jimenez from contacting her, court records show.

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